W&L Rector Appoints Presidential Search Committee

By Eric OwsleyJuly 8, 2015

J. Donald Childress, rector of Washington and Lee University’s Board of Trustees, has named a 14-member committee composed of members of the Board of Trustees, faculty and administration to conduct a national search for the university’s next president.

Kenneth P. Ruscio, a member of the university’s Class of 1976, announced in May that he would step down as president on June 30, 2016. He will have served for 10 years when he leaves office.

In a memo to the university community, Childress, a 1970 W&L graduate, said that the committee will begin reviewing applications early in the fall. He also noted that all members of the university community will have an opportunity to provide feedback, nominations and other input as the search proceeds.

The search committee is chaired by B. Craig Owens, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, a trustee and a 1976 alumnus of W&L. Shelly W. Storbeck, managing partner of the executive search firm Storbeck/Pimintel & Associates, will support the committee in its work.

The committee members:

Chair: B. Craig Owens ’76, Trustee, Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Dana J. Bolden ’89, Trustee, Atlanta, Ga.

Johanna E. Bond, Professor of Law

Donald Childress ’70, Rector of the Board of Trustees, Atlanta, Ga.

Mary C. Choksi P’11, Trustee, Washington, D.C.

Blair Hixon Davis ’94, Trustee, Irvine, Calif.

Waller T. Dudley ’74, ’79L, Executive Director of Alumni Affairs

James D. Farrar Jr. ’74, Secretary of the University and Senior Assistant to the President